Position in chronology
Sargon II 043
Translation — scholar edition
RINAP 2(1) Sargon (II), appointee of the god Enlil, nešakku-priest (and) desired object of the god Aššur, chosen of the gods Anu and Dagān, great king, strong king, king of the world, king of Assyria, king of the four quarters (of the world), favorite of the great gods; (3) just shepherd, (one) to whom the gods Aššur (and) Marduk granted a reign without equal and whose reputation (these gods) exalt to the heights; (4) who (re)-established the šubarrû-privileges of (the cities) Sippar, Nippur, (and) Babylon, protects the weak among them (lit.: “their weak ones”), (and) made restitution for the…
Royal Inscriptions of the Neo-Assyrian Period, volume 2 — scholar edition (ORACC).
Spotted an error? Suggest a correction — confirmed corrections feed the engine's knowledge base.
Why it matters
Attests Sargon II's restoration of šubarrû-exemption rights to Sippar, Nippur, and Babylon — a deliberate policy of legitimising Assyrian rule over Babylonia by honouring ancient Babylonian civic privileges.
Transliteration
mLUGAL-GI.NA šá-ak-nu dEN.LÍL NU.ÈŠ ba-ʾi-it da-šur ni-šit IGI.II da-nim ù dda-gan / LUGAL GAL-ú LUGAL dan-nu LUGAL KIŠ LUGAL KUR aš-šur.KI LUGAL kib-rat ar-ba-ʾi mi-gir DINGIR.MEŠ GAL.MEŠ / RE.É.UM ke-e-nu ša da-šur dAMAR.UTU LUGAL-ut la šá-na-an ú-šat-li-mu-šu-ma zi-kir MU-šu ú-še-eṣ-ṣu-ú a-na re-še-e-te / šá-kin šu-ba-re-e ZIMBIR.KI NIBRU.KI KÁ.DINGIR.RA.KI ḫa-a-tin en-šu-te-šú-nu mu-šal-li-mu…
Scholarly note
Royal inscription of Sargon II, edited by Grant Frame (RINAP 2, 2021). ORACC text Q006524.
Attribution
Image: BM 123413 + BM 123422 (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P422494). source
Translation excerpted from Frame, G. 2021. The Royal Inscriptions of Sargon II, King of Assyria (721–705 BC). RINAP 2. University Park, PA: Eisenbrauns. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/rinap/rinap2/Q006524/.
Related tablets
Related sources
An early example of administrative writing from Uruk. Its fragmentary numerical entries and commodity signs document record-keeping during the formative period of writing.
An early witness to systematic administrative notation at Kish. Its signs and numerals can be catalogued, but that does not establish a full translation or prove that it is the world's first writing.
An early surviving historical monument that joins named rulers, a territorial dispute and religious oaths. It shows how a city-state turned victory into a lasting public claim, without establishing that this was the first recorded conflict.